


Strangers in a Motel Bed

by random_firework



Series: Wincest Love Week: 5th edition (Summer 2017) [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Confessions, Getting Back Together, M/M, Reminiscing, Season/Series 02, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 07:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/random_firework/pseuds/random_firework
Summary: Some things have changed since the last time they shared a bed, and some haven't.Set in season 2, betweenFolsom Prison BluesandWhat Is and What Should Never Be.
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester
Series: Wincest Love Week: 5th edition (Summer 2017) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958521
Comments: 6
Kudos: 164





	Strangers in a Motel Bed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NaughtyPastryChef](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaughtyPastryChef/gifts).



> Written for the first day of the fifth Wincest Love Week. I chose the prompt: Season ½: Forced to share a single bed as it’s all the motel had left.  
> The title is a word play based on the _Brothers on a Hotel Bed _song, by Death Cab for Cutie.__

Sam felt Dean wake up next to him for the third time of the night. A groan resonated in the motel room as he probably cracked an eye open to look at his watch. Sam glanced at the luminous alarm clock. 3:34 am. Three hours of turning in the bed, unable to find sleep, trying to ignore the warmth emanating from his brother and the fast rhythm of his heartbeat.

Dean seemed to bury his head in his pillow, only to grunt again when the mattress creaked as Sam turned on his other side.

“Would you stop moving?”

“I can’t sleep!”

“Well neither can I because of you!”

Sam repressed a frustrated sigh. There was no way they could sleep peacefully in this situation, which was getting worse and worse at an alarming increasing speed. “I’ll just go sleep in the car,” he said, already pushing the quilt away.

Dean turned on his back and propped himself on his elbows. “Good luck with that; it’s thirty degrees outside and we lost the blankets. And I’m certainly not letting you take the bedspread.”

“I didn’t ask you to,” Sam sighed. He settled back in the bed, facing away from his brother, and tried to stay still. He found it easier now that Dean was awake too. The pressure in his ribcage seemed to diminish. He would have been serene enough to fall asleep if it wasn’t for the awareness of his brother’s body lying an inch apart from his own.

“Whatever happened to the blankets?” he asked to distract himself.

“We buried people in them.”

“What? Who?”

Dean didn’t answer his questions. “I still have your baby blanket though,” he added instead in a soft voice.

They kept quiet after that, even though neither of them fell asleep. What Dean had said about the fate of their blankets disturbed Sam less than what he had avoided to say. After a year and a half, he still didn’t know what Dean had gone through during the four years he was at Stanford. At times like these, they felt like strangers lying in the same bed. Sam squeezed his eyes shut at this upsetting thought. That’s when he felt a knee violently bump into his hipbone.

“Ouch! Watch out, Dean!”

“You used to be smaller!”

“And you used to be cuddlier!”

There. He had said it. What had been tightening his throat since they had both slipped under the same bed sheets earlier in the night. During a second that felt like an eternity, it seemed like none of them breathed.

“What?” Dean finally asked.

“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”

Dean let out a little laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“That’s exactly what you said right after you asked me to cuddle you, after our…first time together.”

Sam couldn’t help but smile at the memory. “And you said you weren’t a cuddler.”

“Except for you. It became a drug after that. God, all those times we tried to convince Dad that we should sleep in the same bed, because it would help with your nightmares.”

“Well, that part was true; they did stop.” Sam frowned when he thought about their father. “Do you think he knew?”

“There’s no way he didn’t suspect something. He was an old fox; we were just young and stupid.” Dean paused. “All of this…It was a long time ago, Sammy,” he began carefully.

Sam braced himself for the expected disillusionment. He knew that his brother had moved on. He couldn’t blame him for that. And he couldn’t expect him to want to jump back into the mess that had been whatever their relationship was when they were teens.

“And I still miss it so fucking much.”

Sam opened his eyes wide and turned to face Dean, hoping he’d continue to talk because right now, there was no words his brain could produce.

“I swear, the things I want to do to you sometimes…But it just never seems to be the right moment, you know? And I want to do things right this time. I don’t want you running away after two years, I don’t want to feel like I’m taking your life away, I…I want to do a real love declaration to you and not stutter it in the middle of the night. And it’s fucked up to want that with the life that we lead, we both know it, but-”

“I understand,” Sam blurted out, as his brain finally started to function again.

“Really? Because I’m not even sure I understand myself.”

“Yeah, really. We’ll just take baby steps.”

Dean brushed his cheek lightly. “Awesome,” he murmured before interlacing their fingers.

Sam couldn’t resist pressing himself against his brother’s chest. “Can you hold me then? Just for tonight,” he whispered.

Dean pulled him even closer. “Just for tonight,” he repeated.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it as much as I like writing these two boys trying to figure it out :)  
> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated <3


End file.
